The Land Portal Turns 15!
15th Anniversary Celebration Messages
Thank you to our friends, partners, and supporters who sent us messages and videos for the Land Portal's 15th anniversary! Want to add your voice? Send us an email!
Iris Krebber and UK's FCDO (then DFID) figured prominently in the early days of the Land Portal. Read this recollection to see how Iris inspired Laura Meggiolaro as the Land Portal was being launched as an independent organization.
Happy Birthday! My sincere congratulations to Land Portal on an astounding journey from a small initiative into the world’s leading window of all things land tenure and governance!
The team and all who contributed to this tremendous success should be really proud. As Margaret Mead famously said, 'Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has.'
The Land Portal has become a true game changer and catalyst of transformation. This is through its role in making key data and information available and accessible, stimulating and facilitating debate about policy and learning from the evidence from the local to the global level, delivering impact at scale, proactively managing risks and trade-offs around the complex political economy of land, and, finally, helping to hold ourselves and key actors accountable for progress, including for the benefit of and through the Sustainable Development Goals.
In my career, not a day goes by when I am not reminded of the tremendous importance of good land governance systems and the important contribution that Land Portal is making, whether I work on economic development, food security, climate, or, as I do now, on conflict and fragility.
Supporting the beginnings and the trajectory of Land Portal over the past 15 years has been an incredible experience and honour for me personally, and a hugely valuable investment through DFID/FCDO by the UK taxpayer, for the more inclusive and sustainable world of tomorrow.
Iris Krebber | Head of Civilian Stabilisation Group Operations |Office for Conflict, Stabilisation and Mediation (OCSM) | UK Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO)
Congratulations to the small but mighty Land Portal team for fifteen years of service to the sector. You have provided valuable information to civil society, researchers, governments, donors, implementers, journalists, and many others. You have stimulated dialogue, provided data and analysis, helped us visualize the world around us, and informed us of the next interesting webinar or event. You are a critical component of the land ecosystem and I can’t wait to see what you do in the next fifteen years. Congratulations and thank you for all that you do!
Amy Regas, Co-Founder, PLACE | Senior Associate, Tetra Tech
Happy anniversary, Land Portal! It's been an amazing collaboration since the beginning of the Global Data Barometer back in 2020. Looking forward to more great projects to advance our understanding of data within the land sector. Cheers to many more years of fruitful collaboration!
Silvana Fumega, Project Director, Global Data Barometer
Huge congratulations to the entire Land Portal Team for reaching a 15th successful year! From the early beginnings as a project, to becoming incorporated as a global not-for-profit Foundation under Dutch law, it’s been an inspiring journey all the way.
Land Portal exemplifies a public good at its very best, with its informative content and debates open to everyone online. Land Portal is a one-of-a-kind curator and aggregator of every type of land data and is now well-known and respected among the global land governance community of practice as the ‘go to’ destination on land.
I am extremely proud to be a small part of this fantastic group of people.
Dr Elizabeth Daley, Chair of the Land Portal Board
Congratulations to LandPortal.info on reaching this significant milestone of 15 years! Your unwavering commitment to providing invaluable resources and fostering knowledge sharing in the realm of land governance, particularly in addressing the critical issues of data transparency and combatting land grabs, is truly commendable. As a member of the Steering Committee of the Land Matrix Initiative I highly appreciate our joint endeavour in improving access to land data for holding investors in land accountable. Here's to many more years of cooperation, empowering communities, advancing research, and advocating for positive change. Cheers to your continued success and impact!
Dr. Jann Lay
German Institute for Global and Area Studies (GIGA) / Leibniz-Institut für Globale und Regionale Studien and University of Goettingen
Dr. Elizabeth Daley. Chair of the Land Portal Foundation Board, freelance consultant and a Principal Consultant of Mokoro Ltd.
Laura Cunial, Member of the Land Portal Foundation Board and Syria Crisis Legal Research Adviser for the Norwegian Refugee Council’s (NRC) Middle East regional office
Leon Verstappen, former Chair of the Land Portal Foundation, and full professor of civil and notary law at the department of Private Law and Notary Law of the University of Groningen
Dr. Ritu Verma, former Board of Director of the Land Portal Foundation, adjunct professor at Carleton University, research scholar at the University of California Los Angeles, and associate professor at the College of Language and Culture Studies
Mike Taylor, Director of the International Land Coalition
Madiodio Niasse, Former Director of the International Land Coalition
Nati Carfi, Executive Director of the Open Data Charter
Pranab Choudhury, Co-Founder & Director, Landstack
Stephan Dohrn, Early Land Portal Supporter, Radical Inclusion
The Land Portal Turns 15
15 YEARS OF THE LAND PORTAL
CELEBRATING A MORE OPEN AND INCLUSIVE LAND SECTOR
This year, the Land Portal marks 15 years in action. We began as a simple, yet ambitious, website in 2009 by aggregating fragmented land data for people searching for free, reliable information to support land rights protection for vulnerable people.
Back then, land stakeholders were still searching in the dark for concrete, reliable data related to land. Broad aspects, like the link between land and food security, or land and climate, had yet to be comprehensively documented. There was also urgency to improve information, as some actors were exploiting the blind spot while carrying out abusive land practices, including land grabs.
We have stayed true to our original goals, but we haven’t stayed static. Tackling issues through independent research, connecting land to other development agendas, bringing cutting-edge data principles to land information, fostering vigorous debates – the Land Portal has evolved into an anchor for the land governance community.
We have held up our microphone to diverse voices. Anyone can still register and add their data and perspectives to our platform. Our collaborators range from global organizations to individuals and small civil society communities. We pick up topics such as sextortion, carbon markets, and data justice before they go mainstream.
We have crafted easily approachable content to help users get an instant look or dive deep into the land governance situations in countries. Our thematic portfolios put land into context by covering issues from land conflicts to corruption, food security to gender, climate change, urban and forest tenure, indigenous land rights and much more.
From the beginning, the Land Portal’s unique differentiator was our embrace of the open knowledge movement – the idea that knowledge should be free to use, reuse, and redistribute with as few legal, social, and technological restrictions as possible. We were early adopters in our use of open source software, linked open data, and open licensing. The start-up approach is in the DNA of the Land Portal, and it’s what allowed us to leverage our open data beliefs to embark on another ambitious programme - to document the State of Land Information. We shed light on the levels of completeness and openness of land data around the world to create more conversations.
Throughout it all, we built a community based on trustworthy and unbiased information. The data and information landscape has changed in the last 15 years and will continue to evolve at an ever increasing pace. There are more organizations collecting land data, more attention paid to land-related data, and more artificial intelligence tools that are being used for land governance, with uncertain outcomes. We are paying attention to our users’ evolving needs and remain laser-focused on growing with the global land governance community.
“As we celebrate our history, our energies are concentrated on the future. We’ll continue to ask ourselves what we can do better, where we can improve in serving our users, and how we can innovate,” says Laura Meggiolaro, Managing Director. Thank you to all our users over the years and the donors who have supported the Land Portal.
Read + Watch: 15th Anniversary Celebration Messages
Read: Laura Meggiolaro's Reflections
Please stay tuned for more information about events, blogs, and content for our 15th anniversary.
Climate change, conflict and displacement across the Sahel
Is climate change really the driver of conflict and displacement across the Sahel? This data story explores the history of conflicts in the region, the overlap with climate events and a wide range of institutional factors to investigate this question. The cases of Mali, Burkina Faso and Somalia are used as examples.
Unleashing the Data Revolution: Empowering Land Governance through Open Metadata
A new publication titled "The Role of Metadata and Open Data in the Innovation Cycle of Land Administration" puts the spotlight on this dynamic domain. This publication offers valuable insights into the significance of open data and structured metadata, and how they can revolutionize land administration processes worldwide. By delving into the core principles of open data and metadata, this publication offers a comprehensive understanding of how these tools can be leveraged to foster innovation and drive positive change in the land governance sector.
Enhancing Access to Land Data: The SOLIndex and Open Up Guide
As an advocate for open land data, the Land Portal Foundation aims to improve access to land data, engage stakeholders, and support actions that promote data openness. I recently had the opportunity to introduce the State of Land Information Index (SOLIndex) and talk about the Open Up Guide at the Global Land Tool Network (GLTN) Partners’ Meeting in Nairobi and show how these tools play a vital role in improving access to land information.
Are pastoralists and their livestock to blame for climate change?
This blog post is part of the series What to Read.
As humanity grapples with understanding the causes and consequences of the mounting climate crisis, there can be a tendency to oversimplify issues in a bid to identify solutions. Such oversimplifications have stemmed from a broad-brush analysis which identifies all livestock production and animal products as key drivers of climate change.
New Publication: State of Land Information in Malawi
Land Portal Publishes New State of Land Information Report for Malawi
During the colonial era, data and information was largely treated as confidential in Malawi. According to Mambulasa (2016), many statutes in Malawi dating back to colonial times promote government secrecy and the withholding of public information. This has resulted in lingering land administration and management challenges. Land-related problems have been a constant feature of Malawian society, including the pre-colonial, colonial and post independence period starting in 1964.
Data Story: What makes and breaks achieving women's tenure security
Celebrating Women's International Day, we take a tour to Sierra Leone and put our lens on specific factors that affect women's perception of being insecured in their lands. This data story is based on fresh data from partner organisations Green Scenery, Resource Equity and the University of Groningen.
Webinar Recap: Inclusive finance for land governance: A conversation with donors
The Land Portal and Both Ends capped the popular Whose Land? webinar series with a final webinar on inclusive financing that drew over 300 participants on 2 March 2023. "Inclusive finance for land governance: A conversation with donors” featured donors from the Netherlands Enterprise Agency, Both ENDS, Global Fund for Community Foundations, and Tenure Facility, as well as a diversity, equity, and inclusion expert.
Webinar Recap: Uncovering Land Data Opportunities in Senegal
Along with GIZ and the National Agency for Spatial Planning, known as ANAT, in Senegal, we co-hosted a webinar, “Uncovering Land Data Opportunities in Senegal,” on 31 January 2023. The panel brought together open data and land governance experts to discuss the state of land information in Senegal – focusing on the findings from the SONI Senegal Report – and the way forward to a more inclusive, open and transparent land data ecosystem in Senegal.